San Jose mayor gets cool reply to letter urging end to lockout

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, October 13, 2004

No games are being played, but that hasn't stopped the Sharks and the NHL from putting on their game-faces in response to a recent letter penned by San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales.

Speaking on behalf of businesses and people who will be financially burdened without hockey, the mayor, in separate letters dated Sept. 23, urged NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, NHL Players' Association leader Bob Goodenow and Sharks chief executive Greg Jamison to reconcile and end the lockout.

On Tuesday, Gonzales received a response from Bettman, a six-paragraph letter assuring the mayor that the NHL "was doing everything possible to address the league's economic problems."

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It also referred to the Arthur Levitt report, an audit of the NHL and its 30 teams stating that the league spent 74 percent of its revenue on payroll and lost $273 million in 2002-03.

Jamison was direct in his response to Gonzales as well.

"Though I respect the reason he wrote it, I didn't really need a letter to tell me this is going on," the Sharks executive said.

"I deal first-hand because I work in the city of San Jose and recognize the impact. There's a lot of residual impact. The ripple effect can move in a lot of different directions."

The mayor's office had not received a response from the players' association as of Tuesday.

Gonzales, who wrote that it's "irresponsible for the NHL and NHLPA to ignore the serious economic and community impacts that will be the result of this unfortunate and unnecessary standoff," has sent letters to the mayors of the other 29 NHL cities, urging them to also write to the league and players' association.

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